Warning – Dursley bashing. The chapter is not entirely accurate court wise so if any of you are lawyers, don't come at me!

ReworkRemakeRedo – she is rather frustrating isn't she? However I did think that she was on the verge of desperation, her vision for the future crumbling and making her lost and uncertain.

happylady – I'm delighted you like the DA club, I thought it was rather in character for him to continue it yk?

Chapter 19

"Where is that brat! I'll flay his bloody pelt off when he gets back home!" Vernon roared, face turning a ripe shade of puce.

Sirius shivered from where he was sitting, briefly thrown back to his own experiences with his father. He had never been more glad for having the foresight to request any evidence Harry needed to give was done before the trial, meaning he didn't actually have to present. By the end of today, his godson would be safe from ever going back to those awful people.

"Mr Dursley, please sit down and remain silent," Amelia snapped, disgust clear on her face. Sirius scowled at the man but remained silent, glad Amelia had convinced him that a magical trial would be the best course of action. Harry had preferred the muggle route, stating that they should be judged by their own court system and Sirius had agreed until he heard how small the chance was they'd be sentenced.

"Lord Potter presented us with his memories before the trial so I would hope you both would answer honestly as we will find out the truth, whether that is on your terms or not," Kingsley stated, standing up. His face was neutral but Sirius could see the stiff lines on his face and tense posture. He was no happier about what had been found out than Sirius, having become quite close with Harry through fifth year.

Vernon spluttered some more denials which were quickly silenced by Tonks, who was gleeful with her part in the trial – making sure the Dursleys behaved.

Petunia for her part sat rigidly next to her husband, tight lipped and pale. While this wasn't the first time contacting wizards, in fact, Sirius was sure she probably knew some sitting here from back when Lily went to Hogwarts, she looked very uncomfortable. While he didn't like the woman for all she had put Harry and Lily through, with the hostility in the room, he couldn't blame her for being fearful.

"Your name is Petunia Dursley, previously Evans, and you are the sister of Lily Evans and Aunt of Lord Potter, is that correct?"

Petunia nodded stiffly and Sirius smirked when Tonks poked her in the back, saying "It's a simple yes or no, not difficult as we know you can speak, you did an excellent job of screaming when we came to collect you after all."

Sirius's lips twitched and Remus sighed but couldn't help smile slightly at Petunia's scowl which was followed by a stiff "Yes."

"You are charged with the child abuse of Lord Harry Potter, spanning the time he lived with you. What do you plead?"

"Not guilty," she snapped. Uninterested, Sirius turned his focus on Vernon who was far more amusing to watch, seemingly thinking he could throw off the silencing charm physically. His face had turned a marvellous colour and it rather looked like he was strangling himself. He winced when Remus kicked him in the ankle, hissing "Stop grinning, it makes you look like a manic."

Sirius rolled his eyes but did so, tuning in only to hear Petunia start screaming.

"You liars! I knew Lily going into this wizarding world was a mistake! She deserved everything she got and that brat deserved to die with her! He –"

A hot white rage sparked through Sirius. These were the people who had denied his darling godson the childhood he deserved, one full of leisure and joy, messing around on a broomstick or playing wizarding chess. He never deserved an ounce of what those monsters gave to him!

"How dare you!" Sirius snarled, rising to his feet. "How dare you insinuate my godson deserved anything you did? He was a baby. He had done nothing to you but your sick minds twisted it somehow so it was his fault, a one year olds fault. You took out your sick jealousy on my godson who had done nothing but exist. You think he wanted his loving parents to die? You think he'd want to live with his cruel, authoritarian aunt and uncle who'd rejoice if he died? You –"

"Lord Black, enough," Amelia interrupted sternly. However his little speech seemed to have been enough to silence Petunia, who looked close to tears. Unfortunately it only seemed to spark a fire in Vernon, who'd had had the silencing spell removed for his testimony.

"You make it sound like we wanted that little troublesome brat to be dumped on us. After all, where were you Lord Black, why weren't you taking care of your beloved godson? Oh wait, you were in prison. I don't think you have any right as one of these freaks to lecture us nice normal people on how to behave. Maybe your kind should take a lesson or two from us –"

"Mr Dursley, please refrain from any slurs against the witches and wizards in this room as they, after all, hold your future in their hands."

Vernon snorted, rolling his eyes. "As if I'd let any of you simpletons decide my future. I run a firm called – "

"None of us care where you work Mr Dursley, you can't pay your way out of this one."

Amelia than glanced at Sirius who was looking surly at the floor. "Lord Black, we will be showing Lord Potter's memories now. If you would like to leave then the exit is there, Shacklebolt will grab you when they are done."

Sirius nodded, Remus briefly squeezing his hand. Having seen the memories previously Amelia had decided it best for him not to see them again after a particularly adverse reaction. His mind flickered between the images, one of Petunia smacking him with a frying pan, another of Vernon burning his hand for overcooking supper, another of Dudley making something up so Vernon beat him with his belt. It made him want to vomit. He'd never wanted Harry to have anything like his childhood, had sworn it when Harry was born. And he'd failed.

Harry thanked McGonagall before stepping into the fire, engulfed in flames as he headed for his residence in Cornwall. McGonagall had just pulled him out of class, saying nothing apart from his godfather wished for him to come home. Was Sirius okay? Had something happened?

"Harry!" Sirius pulled him into a tight hug as Harry stumbled out the fire. Harry wrapped his arms around tightly, relieved to see his godfather didn't look worried. But still, that left the question – why had he needed to be pulled out of class?

"Sorry to pull you out of class," Sirius apologised. "I just wanted you to know that Vernon and Petunia have been found guilty of child abuse. However Dudley has been cleared due to your statement that he was only doing what he was taught. He wanted to talk to you so I said we could meet now and have lunch with him in Diagon Alley?"

Harry raised an eyebrow at the choice of location, guessing correctly at Sirius's grin it was deliberate.

"Muggles can see it if we make it so. Anyway, we can trust Fortescue to keep us out of the public eye."

Harry immediately perked up at that. Having been there a lot in third year after falling in love with the delicious ice creams, he had actually become close with Fortescue as well, the man often helping him with his homework.

"Thought you'd be fine with it." Harry ignored the smug look on his godfather's face, instead saying he'd go and change out of his school robes.

Ten minutes later the two of them stepped out of Leaky Cauldron into muggle London, immediately catching sight of a slightly slimmer Dudley, whether that was due to his mother's diet actually working or stress Harry had yet to work out.

"Dudley," Harry greeted, face neutral. Seeing how nervous his cousin looked, not even able to look at Sirius, Harry briefly wondered what Sirius had done at the trial to make him react like that.

"Harry," Dudley muttered, eyes focused on the floor until Sirius coughed and they flickered nervously up to meet his. Elbowing his godfather slightly – Dudley was clearly anxious enough, he didn't need to be making things worse – Harry gestured for him to follow them.

They walked in silence, Sirius – at Harry's command – subtly waved his wand so Dudley could enter Diagon Alley. They drew a lot of attention walking down to Fortescue's ice cream shop but the man himself quickly noticed them and tucked them away into a small corner of the café. Once seated, Sirius swiftly cast the charm muffliato and Harry rolled his eyes as he noticed a gleeful grin on his godfathers face at Dudley's fear. "Stop making fun of him," Harry hissed. "It wouldn't be the first time a wizard has cast a spell on him."

Sirius mumbled something under his breath along the lines that he deserved after what he put Harry through but the boy in question ignored it, focusing on his cousin. "You wanted to talk to me?"

"I – I wanted to say t – that they were wrong. You weren't a waste of space –"

Sirius made a noise of outrage at that, causing Dudley to shrink back and Harry smack him, hissing "From Dudley that's basically 'I love you'. I may have not had the greatest childhood but that's all said and done now, nothing to do about it now so can you please be a little decent, for me?"

Sirius nodded, forcing a smile on his face which Harry noted Dudley seemed to find even more scary and Harry couldn't blame him, after all he wasn't bothered by it as he knew the man. However, with his heritage it wasn't a surprise he looked intimidating.

"They treated you wrong. I was wrong to follow them."

"You did what you were taught," Harry said with a shrug. "It's like Malfoy," he added on for Sirius's benefit. "He's a bigoted pureblood because his parents are. It's what he was taught."

At his godfather's cough he rolled his eyes, adding on "You became friends with my dad, that's the difference. You didn't like your parents and found a way out, most people don't."

"Speaking of finding a way out," Sirius said, face turning more serious as he looked at Dudley, "while you won't be facing any charges, I will be keeping an eye on you at school. I won't be expecting top grades but they need to be kept at least average and if I hear one word about you bullying some poor student, you'll be back in court in a heartbeat."

Harry remained silent, having previously agreed to this as a compromise. Dudley remains on the path of redemption and he is rewarded. If not, then he gets the consequences Sirius would've made him receive the first time.

"Thank you," Dudley whispers and Harry raises an eyebrow. He didn't even think Dudley knew of the words with the amount he had used them in his life, totalling to an astounding number of… zero.

Sirius lent back in his chair, turning to look at Harry, smirk back in place. "And now that's done, here's some good news," he said, holding a letter out to Harry.

Harry hesitantly took it, unsure if his godfather was pranking him. Giving Sirius the side eye and doing nothing to shift his smirk he focused on the letter, slitting it open with his nail. Eyes scanning the letter, short but sweet, his eyes widened.

"So, what do you think? Is it a yes?"